Vereshchuk demands that UN Security Council take immediate measures to demilitarize Chornobyl NPP

Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, demands that the UN Security Council take immediate measures to demilitarize the exclusion zone of the Chornobyl NPP and establish a special UN mission to eliminate the risk of a nuclear disaster.

Vereshchuk made a corresponding request at a briefing on March 27, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"In the context of nuclear security: the irresponsible and unprofessional actions of the Russian military pose a very serious threat not only to Ukraine but also to hundreds of millions of Europeans. Therefore, we demand that the UN Security Council take immediate measures to demilitarize the exclusion zone of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and establish a special UN mission to eliminate the risk of recurrence of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster as a result of actions by the Russian-occupation forces," the official stressed.

In particular, Vereshchuk said that the occupiers continued to militarize the exclusion zone. She stressed that there was a great risk of damaging the confinement structures built over the NPP’s power unit No. 4 after its explosion in 1986. Vereshchuk stressed that such damage would inevitably lead to a significant amount of radioactive dust discharged into the atmosphere, resulting in the contamination of Ukraine and other European countries.

"The occupiers ignore these threats and continue to transport and store large quantities of ammunition in the immediate vicinity of the nuclear power plant. Dozens of tons of rockets, artillery shells, mortar ammunition are transported daily by the Russian occupiers through the town of Prypyat a few hundred meters of the nuclear power plant’s confinement.

Ammunition is also stored in the town of Chornobyl, near the town of Prypyat, not far away from the nuclear power plant. Hundreds of tonnes of ammunition are kept in the town of Chornobyl," the official added.

Vereshchuk also noted that recently Russian troops had increasingly used old and substandard ammunition, which increases the risk of their detonation even when loading or transporting. According to her, the facts of such self-detonation of ammunition at Russian military depots and arsenals are known and occur regularly.

In addition, Vereshchuk informed that significant fires had broken out in the exclusion zone, which could have serious consequences.

"However, today it is impossible to control and extinguish fires in full due to the capture of the exclusion zone by the occupying forces of Russia. As a result of fires, radionuclides are released into the atmosphere. They can be carried by wind over long distances, which threatens radiation to Ukraine and other European countries," the minister said.

She stated that the loss of control over the exclusion zone and the impossibility to put out the fire completely could jeopardize radiation facilities in the area.

As reported, the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant was captured by Russian troops on the first day of full-scale Russian aggression – February 24.

As of March 27, it was known that more than 10,000 hectares of forests were burning in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone due to hostilities. Thirty-one fires were recorded, causing increased levels of radioactive pollution of the air.

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